NORFOLK, Va. (March 18, 2010) – The Rutgers baseball team, winners of five of its last six, have left Florida for Norfolk, Va. for a three-game series with Old Dominion this weekend. The Scarlet Knights and Monarchs will open the series with a 7 p.m. game Friday, followed by a 4 p.m. game Saturday and a 1 p.m. contest Sunday at Bud Metheny Stadium.
Rutgers has won four of its first five games of its Spring Break trip, sweeping Florida International last weekend and splitting a pair of games at Florida Atlantic during the week. The Scarlet Knights head into the weekend with a 6-9 record with the three-game series against the Monarchs coming before a midweek contest against Rider prior to the start of the BIG EAST slate next weekend at Georgetown.
Junior OF/DH Pat Biserta (Pt. Pleasant, N.J.) is hitting .375 overall with four doubles, a triple and seven home runs. The Scarlet Knight, who was named the National Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America on Tuesday, has hit a home run in four of the last five games and has driven in 15 runs over the last five contests. He provided the difference in RU’s last contest at Florida Atlantic with a two-run home run in the 2-0 victory over the Owls on Tuesday.
As a team, the Scarlet Knights have improved their offensive production with a .351 team batting average over their last six games after opening the season with a .226 average over their first nine contests.
Rutgers will go with the same rotation it used in last weekend’s sweep of FIU. Senior lefty Dennis Hill (Hillsdale, N.J.) will get the ball in Friday’s series opener, while senior righty Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) will work Saturday’s contest and freshman righty Dan O’Neill (Garfield, N.J.) will start Sunday’s series finale. Hill and Gaynor will be making their fifth start of the season. Gaynor, who will be making his school-record 42nd start Saturday, has 18 strikeouts on the season and 185 in his career. He is 50 strikeouts shy of tying Bobby Brownlie’s school-record strikeout total of 235 from 2000-02. Gaynor’s 241.1 career innings are fifth-most in Rutgers history. After making five relief appearances, O’Neill recorded his first career start last Sunday and pitched four innings in RU’s victory over FIU.
Freshman reliever Tyler Gebler (Toms River, N.J.) has had a strong collegiate debut with a 1.35 earned run average and three saves in seven appearances on the season.
Old Dominion enters the weekend 10-10 on the year. The Monarchs are led offensively by senior third baseman Jake McAloose, who is hitting .356 with 16 hits, including three doubles and a home run.
Junior righty Kyle Hald (3-1, 3.10 ERA) will be on the mound for ODU in Friday’s series opener. Sophomore righty Ben Tomchick (2-2, 6.85 ERA) will toe the rubber in Saturday’s contest. The Monarchs haven’t announced a starter for Sunday’s series finale.
Rutgers owns a 22-15 advantage over Old Dominion in the all-time series. The Scarlet Knights earned a three-game sweep of the Monarchs last season. Biserta had six hits and drove in five runs with two doubles and an home run in last year’s series. Hill worked six innings and allowed just one run and struck out four to pick up the win in the start against the Monarchs last year.
